


No Power in the 'Verse

by SweetHoney1085



Series: Balls and Bayonets [2]
Category: Firefly
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-03
Updated: 2016-03-08
Packaged: 2018-05-24 11:08:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6151717
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SweetHoney1085/pseuds/SweetHoney1085
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's been two years since Mal sent out The Miranda Wave, kicking the Independence War back into action. Civil War has broken out across the 'Verse, and Mal, Zoe, and Simon are all signed up with the 57th Overlanders. </p><p>How will this war play out? Will the Browncoats win this time around? What will they lose in the process of trying to win their freedom?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“You do not rutting back down!” Staff Sergeant Malcolm Reynolds shouted to his platoon. 

The night sky was alight with lasers and bullets shooting from every which way, so much so that Mal would have sworn it was daytime, had he not known better. They were fighting on some insignificant dust ball of a moon out in near Santo, hardly worth defending; but he and his men were fighting like it was a Core Planet. 

He’d had no idea back when he sent that wave on Miranda that the Independence War would start back up again. Once it had, he was surprised at himself for not immediately jumping into the fray, but he’d told himself he was no longer a young buck, a lone wolf with no one to care about. He had his crew now, and they relied on him. It wasn’t until Zoe had packed her gear and told Mal that she was leaving Serenity, with or without him, that he had reenlisted himself as well. 

“Someone has to keep an eye out for you,” he’d told her jokingly once they were aboard the passenger shuttle that was taking them to meet up with their old battalion, the 57th Overlanders. Well, them that was still breathing and able to take up arms anyway. 

“Come if you wanna. I’m going. Ain’t got noth’in left on this boat for me anyhow,” she had said back to him quietly.

Wash’s death had changed her, there was no question in that. The day he dies, Zoe had turned into a fighting machine, cold and ruthless. It frightened Mal at times.

And, if he was being completely honest with himself, one of the main reasons he had reenlisted was to keep Zoe with the 57th Overlanders, fearing that without him she would return to the Dust Devils, the terrorist organization with whom she had fought after they lost the first war. 

He felt the loss of his second in command, and his best friend, often, and the knowledge of his loss ate at his gut, though he knew it was nothing next to the loss she had experienced. Still, he worried about her. Zoe, who had once been the one to keep his head level, now ran headfirst into the fray. It was as though she didn’t care about her own life anymore, and all she wanted was to meet her husband again on the other side. 

Despite his worries over Zoe though, Mal had to say, so far this war was going better than the last by far. The Independence knew what they were up against this time, in regards to the power and might that the Alliance was willing to throw at them. And they had more support this time as well, The Miranda Wave, as it had come to be known, had made all the difference. Many Core Planets had withdrawn their support, and several members of Parliament had abdicated their positions, choosing instead to encourage the Independence War to begin again.   
The people were ready, in the eight years between the end of the first war, now called the Browncoat Rebellion, and the start of the second, folk had stockpiles weapons, and ammunition, food and medicine. With the support of former loyalists, what used to be a ragtag collection of freedom fighters had transformed into a bonafide threat to the Alliance’s stronghold, and they were not happy about it. 

Backwater moons and planets from the very borders of civilization had turned out to fight in this war, wealthy men and women had donated large sums of credits to help fund the soldiers, and it truly seemed they might have a chance this time around. Already the fighting had lasted for over a year, but that had done nothing to dampen their morale. Unlike during the Browncoat Rebellion, which had been a war of improvisation and recklessness in equal measures, this war had been thought out, planned and prepared for. 

No matter what losses they had faced so far, the Independence were not going to back down this time.


	2. Chapter 2

A flash of light shot through the sky, and Mal heard a cry of pain as the laser beam shot the soldier to his right through the shoulder.

“I need a medic!” he cried out.

Almost immediately, Simon was by their side, and as always, Mal had to stop himself from recoiling at his presence. At the Battle of Blackrock, he too had been hit by a laser blast, though his injury had been to the face rather than the shoulder. Grievously injured, and unable to see properly out of his left eye, Mal had tried to have him discharged for medical reason, but Simon had fought for, and retained his active duty status. 

You’d think that this disfigurement would have made him less attractive, but it only made the female recruits want him more. Simon has many a female visitor to his tent, though they left within minutes more often than not, and disappointed at that. 

“I can’t imagine another woman’s thighs when I know Kaylee is out there somewhere in the black…” he had said when Mal questioned him about it. 

“I may have told her not to wait for me, but I can’t be with anyone else besides her. I wouldn’t want to.”

The one exception, of course, had been Lea Yèyīng, Simon’s second in command, who had nursed him back to health after the injury that had almost cost him his life. She was a beauty alright, with raven hair and large inquisitive eyes. Mal would have been lying if he said he hadn’t noticed her himself, she was like the perfect physical combination of Kaylee and Inara. Physicality was where the similarities ended however, Lea was a sharp surgeon in her own right, trained on Jiangyin, a planet known for its hostility, and the ruthlessness with which the Alliance dealt with insurgents. She was no nonsense, and hadn’t the time for Simon’s proper ways, though Kaylee had certainly loosened him up in the months following The Miranda Wave. 

Lea was the head of the Medical Unit when they first arrived, but Simon’s resume preceded him, and he was immediately made her superior. She had handled the demotion was well as could be expected, and Simon treated her as an equal, deferring to her judgement in most cases. When he’d been shot, it had been right in front of Mal’s eyes, and he’d been certain that the Doc was a goner. He’d never before seen a man sustain an injury of that magnitude and live to keep breathing another day, much less keep up the fight. 

His attempt to protect the doctor and have him sent back to Serenity had caused a rift between the men, who had become comfortable and nearly friends prior to the accident. Mal had gone to his Master Sergeant and tried to push for Simon’s Honorary Discharge is lieu of his significant injuries, as well as his immense contribution to the war effort. 

Simon, however, had gotten word of Mal’s meeting with the Master Sergeant, and had risen from his sick bed, and had given the most impassioned speech, pleading the case for him to be able to stay, and continue fighting the war. 

“I lost everything to the Alliance, my family, my sister’s sanity, my future in medicine…But the Independence gave me back my life. “

He proceeded to talk about how the crew of Serenity, mostly comprised of veterans of The Browncoat Rebellion, had welcomed he and his younger sister, who’s brain had been made into a plaything by scientists of the Alliance, aboard their ship. Simon had found purpose there. And family, after his Alliance friendly parents had disowned him for chasing after and eventually rescuing his sister from the Academy that had imprisoned her. 

“I was on Miranda when the Staff Sergeant saw the wave, and I fought by his side to make sure he was able to send out the signal. I was lucky…we lost good men in that fight…I’ve left behind my sister, so that I could be of service in this war, and I’ve left behind my home. I say this not so that you will send me back, but so you will know how important it is to me that I keep fighting. 

I lost everything to find River. The Alliance took it all from us both. And yet, I joined the Independence Army without a second thought. I entreat you, please do not discharge me from service. I need to stay and help the Cause, I need to stay and stitch these men back up when they fall down. I’ve no doubt that LTJG Yèyīng would make an excellent first officer, she has proven herself to be incredibly capable. But I feel that I must stay here, for my own sanity. Until the war is over, or until I cannot go on to fight another day. And that day has not come yet. No power in the ‘Verse can stop me.”

With those simple words, Simon had swayed the Master Sergeant, as well as the other officers that comprised his tribunal, and he had been given leave to stay and keep fighting.   
For weeks after the tribunal, Simon had refused to speak to Mal, save for a “Yes sir,” responding only to direct orders from his Staff Sergeant. 

After the fallout from the tribunal, Lea and Simon began spending more and more time together, first as she nursed him back to his full health. Then, once he was healed, Simon insisted that Lea begin to train him for combat. Mal had taught him a thing or two out in the black, but now the Doctor felt the desire to be of more use than just patching men up. He wanted to fight as well. For the most part, his duties were still regulated to the medical tent. 

Simon threw the soldier’s good arm around his shoulder and lifted him, carrying him away from the fray and towards safety, the one place Simon had no desire to be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yèyīng – Nightingale


End file.
